Changes

[purplehazegirl]

Who: Mindy Walker-Hayes
What: Self-exploration
When: A few days after talking with Midnighter
Where: Jason's apartment
Interactions: Jason Todd
Warnings: Language.



The three girls sat cross-legged in a circle, staring at one another. They all looked vaguely similar, with long brown hair and big eyes and noses with a strong bridge, but their eyes were different colours, their hair different styles, one of them wore a hat in the likeness of a panda.

"We knew this was going to happen as soon as Strangefate was defeated," Said Molly Walker, the most timid of the three. "...I knew."

"So what? We just keep on doin' what we do." Said Mindy McReady, Hit-girl. "Together, the three of us kick the fuckin' asses of any shit suckin' gangster that comes our way."

"Swears," Molly Hayes, the girl in the hat, said. "And I don't know that we have a choice."

Walker said "If we split apart, our life as we know it as Purple Haze will be gone. Our memories of our parents...our friends."

"We don't have friends," Hit-Girl said.

"Power Girl!" Molly Hayes said loudly. "And the Midnighter! And Jason!"

At that last name, they all fell silent, each girl feeling her cheeks redden but hoping the other girls wouldn't notice.

"So, we're trading three realities for one," Molly Walker said. "And none of these realities are particularly good ones."

"Fuck it," Announced Hit-Girl. "I'll be the first to say it. I like having the powers. I think we can do a lot of good this way."

The other two girls squirmed, but it was pretty obvious they agreed with her, but were too pussy to admit it.

"We do make an awesome team," Molly Hayes said reluctantly. "And I like the name Purple Haze. Kinda ready to grow up now, though."

"Being a kid has it's advantages but...now that I'm super strong I kinda have to agree with you, kid." Hit-girl said. Molly Walker just nodded.

There was a moment of silence, unannounced but it was known that it was for their respective histories.

Molly Hayes was the first to break the silence. "Sooooo...how do we do this?"

"I think we all have to choose to do it." Walker said. "So do we?"

"Yep!" Chirped Molly Hayes.

"Fuck yeah!" cried Hit-Girl.

Walker nodded and the three girls stacked hands, one over the other.


Mindy Walker-Hayes was curled up in a ball, the couch felt more narrow than she was used to, her feet kept kicking the arm rest and she couldn't stretch out properly. She grimaced and tried to tuck her hands under her chin but her boobs were in the way.
...wait, what?

Mindy's eyes snapped open and she sat up, her toes stubbing against the floor as it came up way sooner than she expected. She felt gangling and weird and boy was her sleeping t-shirt tight.
She looked down at herself, seeing shapely, bare thighs and elegant hands. She ran to the bathroom and stared at the woman staring back.

"OH FUCKSHIT!"

Comments

[voted_dead]

"What the hell!?" There were a few phrases Jason was used to hearing screamed out: 'Oh god help,' 'ow fuck,' and 'please don't' being predominant in that list.

'OH FUCKSHIT' was certainly a new one, so the vigilante had to give kudos to the source of said shout. Thus it was through this new and unusual phrase that resulted in Jason Todd, aka the Red Hood, crashing through his own bathroom door, staring at a nearly naked and well-built young (at least mid to late teens) woman, and turning a visible shade of red as he tried to figure out how to resolve this sudden awkward situation.

That was about when his addled mind reminded itself that this was his apartment, and this woman was apparently trespassing. In sleepwear. "What the hell? Who are you and why are you naked in my bathroom?"

[purplehazegirl]

Mindy spun around with a yelp, one hand pulling her shirt down to cover herself while the other curled into a threatening fist. As she pulled the shirt down, she exposed more of her chest.

"Calm down, stupid!" she said. "It's me! Mindy!"

[voted_dead]

Mindy? But-- that-- that made no fucking sense at all. Jason could only gape, still red, and shove his foot in his mouth.

"Since when does Mindy have tits?!"

[purplehazegirl]

"Can you get me some pants, please?" She barked out, her fist no longer a fist but now trying to hug her boobs to herself, trying to hide them. "Jeeze, how the hell did Peej do anything with these in the way?"

[voted_dead]

"It really is you, huh?" Jason finally commented. Far from moving, however, he actually just leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms with a small smile. "Apparently you fill out well. This because of all that timey-wimey bullshit that just went down?"

[purplehazegirl]

"Perv," she scoffed. "Pants. Now! Or I'll dislocate your jaw."
Her eyes briefly shone a bright violet. Yep, it was Mindy all right.

[voted_dead]

"Aw, I don't get a few seconds more to appreciate the view? Covering up legs like that almost seems like a crime." Yes, Jason was opting for the 'extra-ornery' approach this evening.

[purplehazegirl]

"C'moooon," she whimpered, tapping her toes against the cold tiled floor. "I'm tired and your heating sucks. Can we continue this after a reasonable bout of sleep?

[voted_dead]

"Welll, there's always my room, and I've got extra room under the covers..." Jason would have continued, but he was also fairly certain Mindy might really try to kill him at this rate. After a moment, he shrugged.

"But if you want pants, I think I have some sweats in the dresser."

[purplehazegirl]

For a second, just a split second, it almost looked as if Mindy was considering it but then she shuffled her feet again. "Sweats. And the couch is fine."

[voted_dead]

"Take the bed. I've got the couch this time," Jason replied soberly, taking only a moment to go to his room and return with sweats. These were unceremoniously tossed towards the newly aged-up vigilante.

"Just save further screaming for emergencies with blood or fire, okay?"

[purplehazegirl]

She caught the pants with one hand, her chest unbound from her arm. She quickly slipped the sweats on and drew the string tighter. She looked kind of like she was wearing a bad costume of that princess from Aladdin.

"Cool! I get the bed." She walked past Jason and pecked a little kiss on his cheek because hey, why not? For all they knew she could be 12 again tomorrow. Or even younger.

[voted_dead]

"Whatever," Jason replied nonchalantly, trying not to grin at the peck on his cheek.

"Get some sleep, squirt."

[purplehazegirl]

She spun on her heel and faced him with a grin. "Squirt? Really? Don't you think I'm a little old for that now?"

[voted_dead]

"You've gone up a few years physically, but I'm still the oldest here," came his easy reply. "Legs and breasts alone don't make you any less squirt, or else they'd be letting fourteen-year-olds vote."

[purplehazegirl]

Mindy smirked, putting her hands on her very shapely hips. "Or maybe you're just scared. Maybe you're clueless about how to handle the situation. I mean, for as long as I've been here I haven't seen you bring a girl back to the apartment. My guess is that it doesn't happen often."

[voted_dead]

"I know exactly how to handle the situation: sleep on it now, deal with the madness tomorrow," Jason shot back. "Also the whole vigilante thing isn't exactly a chick magnet, and how often do I do the 'secret identity' thing?"

[purplehazegirl]

"Riiiight." Mindy said, pivoting on a foot towards the bedroom and dusting her hands off on her hips and butt as if she won a fight.

[voted_dead]

"You are cruising for a spanking," he threatened, only half-teasing.

[purplehazegirl]

DeSquish

[purplehazegirl]

The next morning when Jason awoke...on the couch...he would see the young woman at the table, eating a bowel of Sugarbombs! cereal. Some things you just don't grow out of overnight.

"Sleep well?" Her hair was down, and it fell almost mid-back. She had changed into one of his shirts, which fit better than the one she had on before. "I didn't wake you did I?"

[voted_dead]

"Huh? No, I'm fine." To his credit, Jason simply grabbed the box of cereal and poured himself some.

"So..." This was a little awkward. "You're a teenager now, huh?"

[purplehazegirl]

"Seems like." She said after swallowing a mouthful of cereal. "S'prolly gonna sound stupid but...I had this dream last night. There were three parts of me. My personality, I guess. And they decided, since Strangefate was destroyed that they...I...we...should move on a bit. Then I woke up with a good few years on me." She shrugged. "You know the rest."

[voted_dead]

"I came back from the dead; I'm not about to nay-say a weird introspection that causes someone to grow up ... literally," Jason commented. Shrugging, he took a bite of his cereal, then pointed the spoon at Mindy.

"Question is, what are your plans now?"

[purplehazegirl]

She shrugged again, scraping off the dry cereal from the edges of her bowel. "Same as they ever were I guess. And on the plus side, Power Girl is still lookin' for a kid. On the down side, I no longer fit into my costume. FUCK!"

[voted_dead]

"You'll need a new one, yeah." To say nothing of new clothes, period.

"Guess we'll need to go shopping today."

[purplehazegirl]

"...Yaknow, I never thought about it before but how exactly do you buy groceries? With what money, I mean? I have my own personal stash but I've never thought about how you keep up appearances."

[voted_dead]

"I've got half the city's drug lords paying me protection money. They keep their business to those who come looking for them, stay away from kids, and I don't kill them, plus I keep some of the city's less practical heroes off their backs." There was no shame in what he said. He'd long since come to the realization that control was as necessary as fear, and that killing should be an option always on the table.

[purplehazegirl]

Mindy blinked and opened her mouth to objected, but then seemed to be rolling it around in her head. "...they stay away from kids?"

[voted_dead]

"Or I gut them."

[purplehazegirl]

Mindy narrowed her eyes. "What about when they sell to welfare moms who spend all their government cheese on crack instead of groceries? Or dads who are on a bunch of speed who rape and beat their wives? Is that still "away from kids"?"

That...came out rather acidic.

[voted_dead]

"You think I haven't kept track of that shit? That's when CPS and the police get 'anonymous tips'. I also do my own part of keeping them in line. They deal with the gangbangers, they deal with the streetwalkers, and they leave families and kids alone. If I kill the drug dealers, someone else just picks up the trade. So I do what's necessary: I control what I can and kill what I can't."

[purplehazegirl]

Mindy smirked. "Just keepin' you on your toes. Making sure you accounted for every reasonable outcome. You passed the quiz."

[voted_dead]

"Sheesh, getting the runaround from my new kid roommate." At least he sounded amused by it.

[purplehazegirl]

"Daddy didn't raise an idiot." She said, drinking the last of her juice and standing up, spinning toward the sink to clean her bowl and glass. "There are things..." She turned off the water and looked out the window, to the skyline. "...there are things that the normal capes don't consider...collateral damage. Shit like that."

She turned to face him, her hands still on the rim of the sink. "Sure you put away some thief boosting a car stereo, but fuck, for all we know, without that stereo his kid might starve."

[voted_dead]

"I don't think I was ever a normal cape, Mindy," Jason replied. True as it was, the young man wasn't really one to sit around recounting the old cape-and-mask days, either.

"Any ideas for a new look now that we need to get you a new outfit?"

[purplehazegirl]

"Hmmm..." Mindy pushed from the kitchen counter and went to the bedroom to look at herself in the full length mirror. "...Dunno. I mean, I could completely re-invent myself. But I like Purple Haze. And it's not like I went around going "I'm Purple Haze, and ...get ready for a hazing...or something stupid like that."

[voted_dead]

Jason found it impossible to resist the urge to troll. "Well, you have superpowers. You could probably afford to do the whole 'exposed cleavage' thing."

[purplehazegirl]

She smirked and looked back at him. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

[voted_dead]

"Maybe a little."